Bread and circus or Pan with bread crumbs?

Abstract

This article, which is based on archival research as well as a review of the literature, discussesthe “social legacy” strategy in the case of the Pan-American Games in Rio in 2007. It isevident that in this multi-sport megaevent olympianism was taken over by the neoliberalideal of society, since the event attempted to foment a volunteer culture. The philosophy ofolympianism, in promoting volunteer work, a modality that takes precarious employment toan extreme by avoiding any employment tie or the payment of a salary, should be understoodas an instrument of class domination, since capital is appropriating part of the value createdby the labor force.